Yours truly being a hands-on fellow.
The man in white is John.
How do you like the result of our joint efforts?
Watch enthousiast everywhere share their passion.
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The red dials are the favourites in India
Didn't Eve do a splendid job with the little means she had?
The blue dials were as much admired as the new yellow ones.
This morning we came at 08.00 am local time as agreed with the contractor. Just to discover that not much had progressed overnight and the chaos in the entire hall was not king but ceasar of the fair.
So I had to start 'yelling' at people and I assembled a team from various other stands that were also half finished. It is highly unusal in India that people get kicked in their behinds verbally and above all that the owner of a booth starts to work alongside the manual labourers. This was what finally did the trick. They all started to pant and sweat. The booth was done in exactly 1 hour's time! And you bet the labourers were proud of their feat.
John, the driver I am provided with here in Bangalore by the courtesy of the Hotel St. Marks told me that he never has seen such a swift action of his fellow countrymen and will most likely never see it again. John was vital in the operation because he translated for me as many workers spoke Hindi or Urdu only. So thanks a lot John for your never tiring help.
Eve did a splendid job in decorating the booth whilst the cleaning got under way. And believe it or not at 10.30 am we were the only booth really ready to roll! The architect in charge of the booth of Titan's, the number one in India came over and wanted to know the secret of my getting the 'lazy' people to work at the speed of sound like he said. Well, I lent him some of 'my' crew free of charge and they performed a kind of second miracle there as well. This helped a lot as we are neighbours at the fair.
Eve took no time to work miracles and the Minister of Planning of the Indian Union, Mr. Shri M.V. Rajasekhar who opened the show was taken in awe by the decoration and inquired who did it! Mihir Kharod, the organiser of the show proudly introduced Eve and myself to the Minister. He stayed a full ten minutes at our booth and his retinue had to admire every single watch he wanted me to explain to him.
We had fun all day long. Our watches slowly catch on in India. People come and go and they inquire about possibilities of purchasing a watch. The security chief of the fair who has his 'office' just next to us estimated that we had some 15,000 people at our booth over the day.
From the Minister of Planning I learned a few interesting facts about the Indian market that I should like to share with you all.
The Indian market is good for some 35,000,0000 to 38,000,000 watches per year. That is counting the formal sector and part of the informal one only. The entire informal sector i.e. watches smuggeld in from other places and other 'easy' routes brings in some 25,000,000 pieces every year. This huge informal market is the big headache of the trade as well as of the government. And all these impressive figures lead to one thing: approx. 12% of the population possesses a watch! There is thus room to grow.
Over the course of the first day we identified and had early talks with three potential distributors. Thanks Mihir Kharod for helping so much. You are a human dynamo and the true king of the Indian watch industry.
The fair opens every morning at 10.00 am. From 10.00 am to 2.30 pm the access is strictly reserved for professionals. Some of them having travelled days just to attend this fair! And all of them pass to salute Mihir Kharod. From 3.00 pm to 7.30 pm the public is admitted alongside the pros. At times I had to give 'lectures' about watch technology to more than 30 people who were at the same time at our booth.
It's now again way past midnight and we have just got back from a reception organised by two Indian watch manufacturers. It is heartwarming how all of them have wellcomed us amongst them. Like Mr. Desai, the former Chairman and the man behind the success of Titan Watches said: "We (you) are now part of the Indian watch family."
Chaos that continued in the morning has given way to interesting friendships and a camraderie that I have never seen in my beloved industry before.
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